Fluid-actuated clutch.



R. DIESEL. FLUID ACTUATED CLUTCH. APPLICATION FILED 001171 1910.

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I nononr ninsnn, or human, Grimm.

FLUIJJ-AOTUA'IED CLUTCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fled October 17, 1810. Serial 805587514.

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

. To all whom it may concern:

have invented certain new and useful clutches, brakes or the-like, in which the engagement of the two members is effected by an elastic hollow body loosely inserted between two members and made to enga e l same when required by admitting a fluid ri'al itself; there are, however, only ve under pressure to the hollow body and so causing it to expand.

Couplings of this description are already known, but in these the elastic hollow body has always been made of materials which allow the necessary expansion of the same on the admission of the fluid under pressure only by the elastic expansion ofthe miteew of such materials which are suitab e, in fact only rubber and perhaps leather. The durability-of these materials however is not such that the hollowbodies made of. the same can be considered as reliable machine parts, and besides this they wear out very uickly owing to the heat caused by the friction and to the lubricating oil.

The present invention relates to friction I clutches, brakes or thelike in which the hollow body being gilnciple of the loosely inserted hollow is retained, but in which this bod is ma e of rigid and not in itself expan ing material, the movement of the walls of the of their materia but to the special form given to them. The materials used are in general metals from which the most suitable and reliable for the purpose can be chosen.

A practical form of .the improved cou- 'ling is illustrated inthe accompanyin awin'g, in-which the figure is a vertica sectionthrough the cou mg as applied to a clutch. 5

Referring to the drawing a indicates a shaft upon 'which is. loosely mounted a housing 6 which, as shown, is in the form due not to the expansion of a hollow drum-like casting having an annular flange b, in whichis adjustably secured, by means of suitable screwthreads, anannulus b. The inner faces of the housing 6 and annulus I) serve as bearing surfaces against which the moving parts of the. ge, as w1ll be here-. 'ina er more particu arly explained. The

con ling members en housing b may obviously take the form of a pulley as shown in the drawings or it may be provided with teeth toform a gear and in fact it may be given any desired form for effecting transmission of power, or in the alternative, if said housing be held in fixed position by any suitable means, it

will serve as the abutment or anchoring member of a brake, or stop mechanism. Keyed, or otherwisesuitably connected to the shaft a is a coupling disk 0 on the periphery of which is carried an elastic pressure receiving body d. This body is preferably held on the rim of the disk 0 by friction, it being slipped over such rim from the side. The body is provided with -a short inlet pipe 1' whlch, when the body is placed in the aforesaid position, moves into a suitable cut-out ortion 0* in the rim of the disk, as shown. 'l he pipe r is then connectedin a suitable manner, as by the pipe or tube r with the conduit Zextending axially through the shaft a, from which conduit the pressure medium is-supplied to the annular pressure body d in an obvious manner. In order to prevent dust and metal particles, which accumulate in the coupling device in the course of time, from reaching the hollow pressure body, a protecting ring 0 is preferably slipped over the latter, as shown. This rin also servesto revent the collapseof t e hollow body w en the. ressure medium iswithdrawn' therefrom. owever, this ring or its equivalent may be dispensed with under certain conditions.

Inits preferred form the body d is constructed with walls of thin'sheet metal in such manner that the two lateral faces e are substantially rigid and flat and have a uniform bearing upon the back faces of friction blocks or shoes 9, g, which are likewise mounted on the penphery of the disk 0.

The peripheral walls of the hollow body are transmits np tangential force relative to the provided with a series of convolutions or folds f, f, which impart to said body a bellows-like form permitting the same to expand laterally upon the admission of pressure medium to the interior thereof. 'By reason of this elongation of the body in an axial direction, the necessary movement of the blocks g, 9 against the friction surfaces of the housing 5 and annulus b is effected, and the change in the formation of the body is not due to the inherent quality of expansibility in the walls themselves, but rather to the particularformation of the convoluted peripheral walls. In order to prevent a flattening out of the convolutions' of the peripheral walls of the bod d, said walls are, in case of necessity, rein orced by means of wires 11 or the like secured within the convolutions. These wires are laid in the co'nvolutions of the hollow body, and the ends of each are secured together as by-soldering or welding in order to form complete rings. When the convolutions are pressed, outward by the interior pressure the resulting tension will be taken u by the wires, and therefore the corrugate .or convoluted walls retain their shape, without ,bein' pressed flat or damaged by the interna pressure. Of course it will be understood that if a protecting ring 0 is used, as shown, dust and the like cannot lodge in'the convolutions in the outer wall of the body, nor inthe spaces between the wires on the outer surface of the body.

- It will be noted that the pressure body d housing I), because of the fact that the friction blocks g, g are connected to and move with the disk 0 and chamber d' in a rotary direction, by reason of the en agement of the lugs it carried by disk 0 wi lugs h on the friction blocks g, g. Any slip or lost, motion between the coupling members I) and 0 will be taken up between the bearing surfaces on the members b and b and the friction blocks g, g, and will not be transmitted to the pressure chamber d, so that the latter is not subjected to frictional wear or tan-v gential strains. It will be apparent that, in order to operate the coupling, to connect housing 6. for .rotary motion with the, shaft a, it will only be necessary to admit fluid pressure, either in the form of compressed air, steam, or a suitable liquid medium into the pressure bod d, by way of duct Z. The effect of such a 'ssion will be to expand body (I in a lateral direction, such expans'ion being permitted by thev corrugated or bellows-shaped peripheral, walls of the chamber. The lateral expansion of the body d will force the friction blocks g,- g into engagement with the cooperating; faces on the housing 6 and the annulus band securely lock the parts I) and 0 together.

Should the apparatus be employed to connect two alining shafts, as would be roduced, for exam le, by the division of s aft a along dotted line k, it would only be necessary to connect each of the coupling .memhers I] and 0 rigidly to its corresponding shaft section. v

What I claim is .1. Coupling mechanism for powertransmitting apparatus, comprising relatively movable coupling members, and a fluid pressure device located between said coupling members for operatively connecting the same, said pressure device comprising a hollow body having a substantially rigld wall on its enga the ri id wall. V

2'. oupling mechanism for power transmitting apparatus, comprising relatively movab sure device loosely located between said coupling members for operatively connecting the same without itself transmitting tangential strains, said pressure device com' rising a hollow body having a, substantlally rigid wall on its en aging face and corrugated or folded wa s arallel withthe direction of movement 0 the rigid wall.

ging face and extensible walls parallel with the direction ofmovement of 0 coupling members, and a fluid pres-V 3. Coupling mechanism for power trans- I mitting apparatus, comprlsin two relatively movable coupling mem rs, and a fluid pressure device'for operatively connecting said members without transmitting tangential strains, said device including a hollow sheet metal body carried by one member, said body having a substantially rigid frictional engaging face and extensible corrugated walls disposed substantially at right angles to said engaging face.

4. Coupling mechanism. for power transmitting apparatus, comprising a shaft, relatively movable members mounted thereon,

said members having cooperatin coupling elements, and a fluid pressure rled by one member foroperatively connectm'g said coupling elements without itself evice, car

transmitting tangential strains,-said' device including a hollow sheet metal body car:

,ried by one of said members and having a substantially rigid wall enga 'ng the coupling element carried by said corrugatedextensible walls parallel with the directlon of movement of said rigid wall.

5. A coupling, comprising. two adjacent relatively rotary members, a hollow annular body carried by one of said members, said body having a plain lateral wall and corrugated peripheral walls and a movable frictional block mounted adjacent said lat eral wall of said body and adapted to be forced by the expansion of said body into mem member and engagement with the cooperating coupling 6. In a coupling mechanism such as dename to this speeificetion in the presence of scribed, a hollow expansible body hearings;1 two subscribing witnesses. bellows-shaped wall and means interpo between the convolutions of said wall to pre- 1 RUDOLF DIESEL 5 vent the flattening-of the latter under in- Witnesses:

ternal pressure. A. V; W. Coma,

In testlmony whereof I have signed my MATHILDE K. HELD. 

